We saw the title of the post, read it once through, and thought he wanted fans to divert their attention away from Yeo and Therrien…and direct towards Shero's mishaps.

But upon closer inspection, he pretty much gives the fairest assessment of Shero's work during the past offseason and current season.

We even had this PS

ready.

But

then we realized where Tony was going with his post.

His thoughts were complemented by both Rob Rossi and Stoosh going to

town.

Jump

city. We got a visit from an old friend.

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I knew I'd be back, dicks.

All season, thoughts on how this season will ultimately end up have wavered on a daily basis, although the last month or so has been nonstop contemplations of bridge-jumping. We miss FLYER HATER saying "Pens aren't making the playoffs."

After Sunday's game, there is a palpable feeling that the season is done for. Gay.

First, it is February. No season can be labeled anything.

Remember when Backstrom scored an own-goal in that game last year?

Everyone wrote the Caps off after that. What did they do? Made the playoffs.

Rossi talked at length about the business model the Penguins are trying to build and how it is a lot like the Steelers. Normally we projectile-vomit when people compare the Steelers and Penguins, or the NHL/NFL, for that matter. But it is true.

This is the salary-cap era for both sports. The Steelers are built to hang around every year. They aren't making the AFC Championship every season, let alone the Super Bowl. This season, Tom Brady's balls fell off, the Colts blew, and the Titans couldn't hold onto the football. Door was open. Steelers walked through it.

Not one fan is an expert when it comes to how teams should be managed in the salary-cap era of the NHL.

Edmonton and Carolina played in the SCF in

05-06.

We

don't hear about those teams anymore unless we play them.

Anaheim and Ottawa played in

06-07.

Ottawa

is a mess right now. Anaheim is afloat.

Detroit and Pittsburgh last year. Detroit is a freak of nature that was already built for the salary-cap era before it even came. But they don't have anything resembling a solidified number-one goalie, and even Detroit fans have said they expect that to be exposed in a seven-game series.

And the Pens? This is the third year of an overwhelmingly sucessful tenure for Shero. He has secured Crosby, Malkin, Fleury, Whitney, Staal, and Orpik for the long haul. Oxford comma, bitch. We have barely seen what his deep-round draft picks will pan out to be. Before this Shero/Crosby/Malkin run, the season was over in December. This year, the Pens are, at most, 4 points out of the playoffs in February. Things will gel certain years. Some years, they won't. It doesn't help when your GM has his hands tied and gets lied to by potential free-agent signees.

Pens are making the playoffs this

year.

Mark

it down. February 11, 2009.

The last thing we want to come off as is condescending towards other Pens fans. It just so happens that we have a lot of free time and no girlfriends, so we have a blog, so we get to share our shit with people on a semi-mass scale. The people commenting on this site make up a microcosm of the Pens fanbase. Actually, if you're going out of your way in your Internet time to check Pens shit out, you're a bigger fan than those who don't — fact. We see what everyone is saying, we don't hold judgments towards people on what they say, and we try to bottle everything up and spew it back onto this blog somehow.

And some people just need to be reminded that the Pens won't be in the SCF every season, they won't be the best team in the league every season, and they might limp into the 8th seed every now and then. Should this stop any of us from wanting them to win the Cup every season? Shit no. What's the point of even watching these games the rest of the season if we don't have the highest aspirations in mind for the Pens?

We haven't said this for a

while.

But

stay the course.

but i want it now, dad-day

The term "dog days of summer" has its roots in Roman

times.

Sirius

, the Dog Star, is the brightest in the sky (other than the Sun) during the hottest summer months.